• To prepare professionals who have the abilities and dispositions to facilitate and enhance learning and development within diverse settings.
  
• To promote and facilitate the discovery and dissemination of knowledge related to learning, teaching and development.
  
• To develop professional partnerships that promote meaningful educational, social, economic and political change.

Our Goals & Objectives
Our major goals and objectives guide are development and academic pursuits. They include:

Goal 1 Curricula that reflect sound theory and best practice.
Goal 2 Qualified and diverse students and graduates.
Goal 3 Qualified and diverse faculty active in teaching, research and service.
Goal 4 Effective governance and organizational structure within an environment of open communication among faculty, administrators, staff, students, and community.
Goal 5 Collaborative and mutually beneficial partnerships with schools and other organizations.
Goal 6 Enhanced visibility at the local, state, national, and international levels.
Goal 7 Continued improvement of the college.

Our Conceptual Framework
The College of Education’s operation is guided by a conceptual framework, which is a sophisticated term for the vision — developed in collaboration with local educators, teacher candidates, parents, and other members of the College’s "professional community" — that provides direction for our programs and activities.

During the past year, the COE faculty revised the College’s mission, goals and strategic plan. We also revisited the conceptual framework. We updated our conceptual framework based on the answers to the question “What is unique about our College’s philosophy, purpose, professional commitments and values?”

The revised conceptual framework, which is graphically illustrated below, builds on and crystallizes concepts included in the College’s original conceptual framework (1995-1999). In Spring 2000, the following four core concepts emerged as central to our vision:
Interculturalism: That professionals we prepare must be sensitive to individual and cultural differences among their students and the urban environment in which they live.

Interconnectedness: That our graduates can collaborate effectively with other educators, related professionals, families and other members of their community. They can also engage in cross-disciplinary practice and scholarship.

Inquiry: That our pre-service professionals can investigate educational dilemmas and problems and seek resolutions that benefit students. They can also think critically about educational issues and reflect on their practice with the goal of continuous improvement.

Instructional leadership: Graduates are expected to know their content and pedagogy and use this knowledge to help all students learn. They can reflect on their practice and change their teaching approaches based on their own insights.

Of course, our faculty must model these concepts as well as require their demonstration by the students in their classes. We model these concepts, and organize curricula, within an institution that must respond to a variety of internal and external challenges. The internal challenges consist mainly of the underlying beliefs and values that guide faculty. External accountability is guided by:

• National standards and accrediting bodies
  
• State standards and mandates from the Florida Department of Education
  
• Professional Association standards
  
• The wisdom of educational practice

Finally, we have reaffirmed our belief in the importance of performance accreditation and we are proud to provide performance data and information that shows our graduates not only know their content, but that they can and do make a positive difference in the learning of others, be they pre-schoolers, secondary students or adults.